Kukla's Korner Hockey

...But if you’re a fan, there was nothing in their initial address that would make you any more optimistic about a championship than you were prior to the announcement. Sure, these guys would love to win a Stanley Cup and if that’s a byproduct of their ownership, all the better. But let’s not kid ourselves, their primary concern is with getting their product on as many screens as possible, regardless of how good or bad it is.

Which brings us to the next thing that is crystal clear when it comes to the hockey scene in Toronto. And that is, any opposition to a second NHL team in Canada’s largest city evaporated before the ink was dry on the blood vow Canada’s two biggest communications conglomerates took when they spent $1.32 billion on 75 percent of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment.

And the importance of this cannot be overstated. When MLSE was taken over by BCE and Rogers, it essentially paved the way for the Phoenix Coyotes to move to the Greater Toronto Area as early as this summer, right around the time the Leafs sale gets approved by the NHL’s board of governors.

Comments

I don’t doubt Toronto will have a 2nd team eventually but it won’t be the Coyotes.
No way the NHL misses out on an easy $400 expansion fee. And whoever wants a 2nd team in Toronto will gladly pay that (or more) to see it happen.

No, I see the Coyotes heading to either KC or Seattle.

The NHL knows towns like Toronto and Quebec will pay above $250M for expansion fees so why allow a team to walk in there without paying up first?